Sotheby’s to Auction Iconic Photos from 19th Century to Today

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Fang Block

Sept. 21, 2018 1:59 p.m. ET

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A print of Caviar is offered at auction for the first time.
Sotheby's

By

Fang Block

Sept. 21, 2018 1:59 p.m. ET

Over 200 iconic photographic works spanning the 19th century through to the 21st century will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York on Oct. 3., led by Russian artist Aleksandr Rodchenko’s Girl with a Leica (Devushka S Leikoi), which has an estimated sales price of between $300,000 and $500,000.

Describing it as an “adventurous composition of rhythmic lines, abstract patterns, and extreme angles,” in a news release, Sotheby’s said the work embodies “the rigorous photographic modernism” Rodchenko pioneered. Taken circa 1932 to 1934, the signed, exhibition-sized print of Girl with a Leica is the largest early print ever to be auctioned, Sotheby’s says. Prints of this image are also in museum collections, including the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Girl with a Leica is expected to fetch up to $500,000 during Sotheby's photography auction Oct. 3.
Sotheby's

American modernism is represented by several early prints by Edward Weston, including Nude on Sand and Pepper No. 14, both estimated to fetch in the region of $70,000 to $100,000, and Wind Erosion Dunes at Oceano, California, with a presale estimate between $100,000 and $150,000.

Other highlights of the auction include pioneering color photographs by Irving Penn, Joel Meyerowitz, Stephen Shore, and Saul Leiter; a selection of celebrity portraiture and nude subjects by Herb Ritts; and works by pioneering female photographers Carrie Mae Weems, Marina Abramović, Ana Mendieta, and Jemima Stehli.

Among the important works of fashion photography is Irving Penn’s Caviar, New York, Jan 18, 2001 (estimate: $100,000 to $150,000). This photograph comes originally from the collection of Lars Hall (1938-2018), a longtime friend of Penn. This will mark the first time for a print of Caviar ever to be offered at auction.

Sotheby’s will host two sessions during the one-day sale on Oct. 3, with the morning session dedicated to contemporary photographs.

The auction house didn’t provide the estimated total of the sale.

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Sotheby’s to Auction Iconic Photos from 19th Century to Today

Over 200 iconic photographic works spanning the 19th century through to the 21st century will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York on Oct.

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